Travelling to Japan? Here’s why bear encounters are on the rise

SINGAPORE – Going to Japan? Beware of bears. From April 2025 to March 2026, the country recorded a historic high of 238 bear attacks and 13 deaths, according to its Environment Ministry.

These incidents have been concentrated in the Tohoku region – the mountainous northern part of Japan’s main island of Honshu, about 90 minutes from Tokyo by bullet train – as well as parts of Hokkaido.

Japan is home to two main bear species – the medium-sized Asiatic black bear and the larger Ussuri brown bear, which can weigh more than 400kg at full maturity.

Researchers say the rise in bear sightings, including in urban areas, is driven by factors including climate change, habitat loss and Japan’s declining rural population. 

While bear attacks are not new, their rising frequency and proximity to populated areas are growing concerns for travellers, says Dr Paul Chen, a lecturer at Republic Polytechnic’s School of Applied Science, whose research focuses on animal behaviour.

“Bear attacks in other countries tend to occur in remote agricultural areas where tourists rarely go,” he adds. 

“In Japan, however, there are more accessible transitional zones between forests and urban areas that travellers can visit, so the incidence of attacks may be more common.”

From April 2024 to March 2025, Japan had 85 casualties and three deaths due to bear attacks.

Still, industry players say the risk to tourists remains manageable. Mr Ben Julius, founder of travel company Tourist Japan, is not overly concerned as most itineraries focus on major cities and well-frequented destinations.

He says the company may adjust travel plans as a precaution, such as avoiding areas with active bear warnings or rerouting outdoor segments of itineraries. 

“Main tourist destinations in Japan are still not affected and are far from bear attacks. I think it’s still a very small number of cases and I understand the authorities are tackling the issue,” he adds.

Root cause

In Japan, increasing temperatures and more erratic weather patterns have affected the timing and yield of key food sources for bears, such as beech nuts and acorns.

“Climatic conditions such as rainfall and temperature indicate to temperate plants when they should flower, fruit or shed leaves. In recent years, the average temperature has been much higher, which has affected plants’ seasonal cycles,” says Dr Chen.

“Due to the disruption of the seasonal pattern, plants may produce fewer nuts or drop all their nuts before autumn. So, by the time bears need to build up a reserve for winter, all the nuts are gone and they don’t have enough food.”

With less food available particularly in autumn, when bears typically build reserves for hibernation, some bears are delaying or skipping hibernation altogether and continuing to forage through winter. Notably, it was during autumn in 2025 in Japan that attacks spiked.

Mr Dave Neale, director of programmes at Hong Kong-based animal protection charity Animals Asia, says shorter hibernation periods are becoming more common, with more bears being forced to enter urban areas to find sustenance. 

“Bears have this ability to mind-map their habitat, so they know in a certain area, these plants and fruit will be available at a certain time. If that shifts, they will have to range farther to find the same amount of food and may start going into urban areas and coming into contact with people,” he adds.

Japan’s rural depopulation is compounding the issue. Abandoned or under-maintained agricultural land, often with fruit-bearing trees, provides easy food sources that draw bears closer to human settlements.

Dr Chen says climate change is not the sole driver of the rise in bear encounters, though several environmental indicators point to a strong link.

“We need about 10 years of monitoring to confirm whether climate patterns consistently predict bear encounters or whether other factors were primarily responsible for the recent increases,” he says.

Decoding bear behaviour

Of the two main bear species in Japan, Dr Chen says the Asiatic black bear tends to be more aggressive.

“One hypothetical understanding is that Asiatic black bears are also prey to tigers, so they have evolved aggressive behaviour to fend off would-be predators. Brown bears, while bigger, are less aggressive, so as long as they sense that there’s a lack of threat, they will move on,” he adds.

Mr Neale describes bears as risk-averse animals that generally avoid confrontation.

“A bear will leave quickly if the opportunity is available. Most of the time, attacks happen because people come upon bears by surprise, find themselves in a situation where the bear cannot escape or come across highly protective mother bears with cubs,” he says.

However, a growing concern is the increasing number of bears venturing into urban areas in search of food. When these forays are successful and pose little risk to bears, they may associate human settlements with easy food sources – raising the likelihood of repeat visits and more encounters.

“Bears transmit information through social learning and cultural transmission. If more bears – particularly females – come into urban areas with cubs, it will register as normal behaviour for the cubs,” Mr Neale says.

Managing risks

This makes early intervention critical to prevent such behavioural patterns from becoming entrenched.

With bears having emerged from hibernation since spring started in March, the authorities are stepping up efforts to prevent a repeat of the surge in attacks in 2025. Early warnings have been issued across several Tohoku prefectures, including Akita, Aomori, Iwate and Miyagi.

In Fukushima city, officials launch noise-making rockets three times a day to deter bears from entering a park popular with residents. Licensed hunters have also been enlisted to cull bears in the worst-affected areas.

In March, the Japan government set targets for bear capture as part of a road map to manage their damage, which will run through to 2030.

According to Japanese media reports, the government aims to deploy 2,500 municipal staff for bear capture operations – three times the current number – with provisional targets of 12,000 captures in the Tohoku region and 11,000 in the Chubu region, which covers central Japan.

Travellers say the reports have not deterred them from visiting Japan, though they are taking precautions.

Finance executive Elfa Sham, 31, travelled to Tokyo on April 30 for a week-long trip.

“While I’m not too worried about this trip since I’m travelling only in Tokyo, I do intend to visit Japan more often, especially its less crowded cities. The increase in reported attacks does make me more cautious and I’d probably avoid areas where bear encounters are more likely,” she says.

Biologist Tan Ko Hui, 30, who travelled solo for 11 days around Tokyo and to nearby towns such as Yokohama, Kamakura and Hakone in April, was surprised to learn that bears had been sighted in urban areas.

“I wasn’t that concerned while travelling in the city, since the places I visited were very populated. Still, to prepare for future trips, I’ve read up on what to do in a bear encounter,” she says.

While reducing emissions is a long-term solution, experts say short-term fixes include habitat restoration, which can help stabilise food sources, and better land management in rural areas, which can reduce the likelihood of bears wandering in.

Mr Neale says electric fencing is one of the most effective deterrents to keep wildlife out of human settlements, though it is resource-intensive, costing between US$500 (S$637) and US$1,000 a sq km.

He adds that community engagement and education for locals and tourists are key to reducing bear encounters, and says addressing the issue requires a shift in mindset.

“If we adopt a co-existence strategy, we set ourselves up for a better way of dealing with the situation,” he says.

“If we look at it as (wildlife-human) conflict, then the problem is always on the bear; whereas if we look at it as co-existence, it becomes more like we must also take responsibility for this – as an individual, and as a community.”